ORNAMENTAL PHEASANTS




This is our two-year-old pair of Red-Golden Pheasant. The male, of course, is wearing the flashy colors while the female is still very beautiful in her brown/black fashion. The hen just went into production for the first time with spring and laid eggs for us.
Below I will picture some of the baby ornamental pheasant that hatched 5-14 and 5-15-06. We think they redefine "CUTE"!!







This little cutey is a Red Golden Pheasant day-old chick, who just came out of the incubator. I hope to have a page up soon about raising young chicks, and you will see another picture of this chick when its beak was dipped in water to encourage it to drink and eat. The chicks were very calm and didn't mind their pictures being taken at all. I think these chicks are the cutest of the baby pheasants. I never seem to get photos at the right time, but Ringneck chicks are a silvery color with black markings (racing stripes I call them - all of the Pheasant are very mobile and lightning fast when they hatch!)







Here are two variations of Melinistic Pheasants, again as day-old chicks who were just brought out of the incubator. Sorry the pictures were a little dark, but if you use a flash you end up with bleached-out looking chicks, and it IS pretty bright in the incubator room, where the "newbie" chicks stay for at least the first three days of their life. After that they go into brooders that are located in the main Poultry House.







At the right is a Lady Amherst Chick. This was one of the first Pheasants we got out of the incubator with this brood, and I just love the cute expression on this chick's face! Again, they do not seem to mind their pictures being taken, but we do so quickly to avoid them getting too chilled. The incubator room itself normally stays around 80 degrees, plus we use heat lamps for the little bitty babies so that they stay between 95 and 100 degrees F for the first week. Needless to say, one of the "little things" to pick up for successful brooding is about a billion small, sturdy thermometers to easily monitor your temperature in your brooders.







Pictured at left here are three Ornamentals in their brooder. Note the colored bands on their legs, this identifies each specific variety. The bands are not permanent, and do not injure the birds in any way. They are useful for ID and better care of the birds. As these chicks grow, they will get new "Bird Jewelry" (all the coolest Chicks are wearing them these days) and you can tell the birds' age, health, etc. by documenting any pertinent info by either the color and/or a number on a band. In this photo, the red bands are Red Goldens and the white band is a Lady Amherst Pheasant chick.







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